Portable lighter.



G. $CHLEIGHER.

PORTABLE LIGHTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 25, 1913.

1,691,966. Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

WITNESS S INVENTOR @[O/Pf Jab 100w? m. I l W By i ATIOR/VEYS GEORGE SCHLEIGHEB, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PORTABLE LIGHTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

Application filed September 25, 1913. Serial No. 791,777.

To all whom it may concern that I, GEORGE Sonnnronnn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Portable Lighter, of which the follow1ng 1s a full, clear, and exact description.

Among the principal objects which the present invention has in View are: to provide a container to hold free l quid fuel for delivery in regulated quantities; to avoid flooding and evaporation of said fuel; and to revent a variation in the delivery of the fuel from said container.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a lighter constructed and arranged in accordance with the presentinvention; Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same, taken on the median line thereof; Fig. 3 is a detail view on an enlarged scale, showing the closure plug for the fuel container.

As seen in the drawings, a metal container or flask 8 is provided with an inturned boss 9 to provide a threaded perforation for a screw plug 10. The flask 8 is further provided with an internally-extended centrallydisposed tube 11. The tube 11 is extended to within a short distance of the bottom of the flask 8, and this end is covered by a fine wire gauze 12 Or other suit-able material to operate as a sieve or filter for the fuel 13 when passing flask 8 to the interior of the tube 11. The tube 11 is normally tightly closed by a screw-threaded portion 1 1 of a nut 15. The nut 15 has a knurled head 16 and a stem 17 which forms the body of the lighting torch.

The lighting torch may be said to consist of the stem 17 a mop 18 and a steel 19. The length of the stem 17 is such that when inserted in the tube 11 and the nut 15 screwed down until a flange 20 rests tightly upon the top of the flask 8, the steel 19 and torch 15 are juxtaposed to the gauze 12 forming the sieve at the bottom of said tube. In this position, a small supply of the fuel 13 in the tube 11 is sufficient to saturate the mop 18.

The fuel indicated by the numeral 13 is preferably gasolene, though any suitable inflammable oil or liquid would answer. This fuel is placed in the flask 8 in liquid form, and so held in the flask, there being no ab- Be it known from the main body of the sorbent material placed in said flask to prevent the exudation of said fuel. This is not needed in the present construction. The orifice closed by the plug 10 is that which is usually employed for filling the flask 8. lVhen said flask is filled, the plug 10 is screwed into the opening formed in the boss 9, to close the upper end of said flask hermetically.

It will now be observed that as the supply of fuel 13 is extracted from the interior of the tube 11, the body of the fuel in the flask 8 falls therein until the atmosphere above the fuel in the flask 8 becomes rarefied and the atmospheric pressure exerted upon the fuel at the bottom of the tube 11 is suflicient to iprevent the further flow of fuel from the body of the flask 8 into said tube.

To permit a regulated quantity to flow when the fuel has become exhausted in the tube 11, I provide the threaded portion of the plug 10 with a slot 21. When the plug 10 is manipulated to retract the threaded shank thereof, the slot 21 is exposed above the top of the flask to admit a small quantity of air to the chamber of the flask above the fuel 13 contained therein. The degree of rarefaction in the flask 8 is thereby lessened, and a proportionate amount of fuel 13 flows from the body of the flask 8 into the tube 11. This flow is determined by manipulating the plug 10 to close the slot 21 and stop the flow of air therethrough. This operation is repeated from time to time to replenish the fuel supply in the tube 11.

The torch or fuel held in the mop 18 there of is ignited by striking the steel 19 on a thin plate 22 formed from suitable sparkproducing material. To do this, the nut 15 is manipulated to release the threaded portion from the flask when the stem 17 and remainder of the torch is lifted from the tube 11 and the steel 19 is drawn sharply and firmly across the plate 22. The sparks emitted by this action ignite the fuel in the mop 18, with the result that a flame is produced and maintained. When the lighter has been used, it is extinguished and returned to the tube 11, the mop and steel at the lower end entering the supply of fuel at the lower end of said tube when the screwthreaded portion 14 is secured in the flask 8.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the maximum quantity of fuel for any given size'of flask 8 is maintained. It will also be observed that the flow of fuel from the body of the flask 8 to the interior of the tube 11 is absolutely and readily controlled.

Claims:

1. A portable lighter, comprising a flask having two top openings; a tube surroundingone of' said openings and extending to near the bottom of said flask; a removable torch in said tube, said torch having a sparkproducing steel end and sin-absorbent portion said torch closing the opening to said tube; and a closure member for the other opening, sealing said opening and having a passage formed therein to lead air into said flask when exposed.

2. A portable lighter, comprising a flask having two openings in the top thereof; a tube surrounding one of said openings and forming an air-tight joint with the top of the flask, said tube extending to near the bottom of said flask; a removable torch in said tube, said torch having a spark-producing steel end and a liquid-absorbent portion, said torch closing the opening into said tube; a closure member for the other opening, said member having a passage formed in the side thereof to lead air into said flask when exposed; and means mounted on said flask to spark when struck by the steel end of said torch.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE SCHLEICHER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE R. SCHMIDT, JULIUS KALLMAN. 

